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Already Gone

By: JukeboxEMCSA



Catherine already knew what her fatal flaw was, although she didn't actually expect it to ever be fatal. In fact, she didn't really even think of it as a flaw. Being inquisitive was a good thing, as far as she was concerned. It was a sign of an active, intelligent mind. And it had never really gotten her into too much trouble. Sure, she'd gotten a few scoldings as a kid for trying to find out what her Christmas and birthday presents were--she remembered her dad saying, "Curiosity killed the cat...Cat," and the two of them bursting into giggles as he couldn't hold his frown. But apart from giving her an interesting nickname, Cat had always thought of her curiosity as, at worst, an endearing quirk. She never tried too hard to repress it, and loved to indulge it.

All of which explained why she couldn't help but stop, that warm summer day as she biked through the forest. It wasn't that it was so unusual to see someone sitting by the side of the bike path, although you didn't get many people this deep in the trails. It wasn't that the person she saw appeared to be a little girl, sitting under a tree with her knees drawn almost all the way up to her chin, staring intensely at Cat as she approached. It was that the girl had a box balanced on her knees, an ornate wooden box with beautiful baroque carvings, and she held it tightly with both hands as if to keep it safe, even this far away from any potential thieves.

As soon as she saw it, Cat wondered what had to be inside the box to make the little girl so protective, and she knew she'd never get any peace until she found out. And if that wasn't a fatal flaw, it was near enough.

She brought her bike to a skidding stop just a few feet past the girl and leaned it against a tree, then turned back to the girl. "Hello!" she said brightly, just before her voice froze in her throat. Not out of fear, merely out of embarrassment--up close, the 'little girl' looked to be about Cat's age. She was slender and willowy, with barely any breasts to speak of, but Cat could tell that it had just been the girl's clothing and body language that had suggested youth. Her eyes told a different story. Nobody looking this girl in the eyes could mistake her for a child, even if her long black hair was done up in pigtails and she had a little pink ribbon in her hair. Cat felt silly for greeting her in the kind of tones you reserved for talking to very small children.

"Um, hi," she said casually, trying to salvage her pride. "My name's Cat. What's yours?"

The girl looked up at Cat, her face slightly glum. Cat couldn't quite shake that impression of the girl as child-like, and her voice didn't help. "Zoe," she said, sounding every inch the bored child humoring a grown-up.

"Hi, Zoe," Cat said, trying not to sound like Mister Rogers when she said it. "That's a really interesting box you have, there."

"S'a birfday present," Zoe said. It sounded almost affected, like she was a grown-up impersonating a child. Which, Cat reminded herself, she clearly was. But why come out here, all the way to the middle of the woods, and impersonate a little girl for the benefit of a chance passer-by? "It's magic," Zoe added after a moment.

"Magic, huh?" Cat said, sitting down next to Zoe. "What's inside it?" She'd meant to ask, 'What's magic about it?' But the desire to know what was under the lid that Zoe held so tightly shut could only be forestalled for so long, and Cat had never been known for her patience.

Zoe scooted around so that she was facing Cat. "Take a look for yourself," she said, handing the box to Cat.

Cat hadn't really expected it to be that easy. From the way Zoe was holding the box, she'd expected to have to do some serious cajoling to get the girl to let her see the contents of the 'magic' box. Still, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Cat set the box on her knees (sliding her feet forward a little to lower the box so she could look into it more easily) and opened it up.

She was more than a little disappointed at what she saw. "It's empty," she said.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Well, duh!" she said. "You haven't put anything in it yet! Just keep looking." Cat furrowed her brow in confusion--what was she supposed to put in there? But after a few moments, she saw something in the box. A tiny sprinkling of glittering dust just seemed to...appear. It was like it just caught her eye, and suddenly she couldn't think how she'd missed it.

"See, it's a magic box, just like I told you!" Zoe said, responding to the change in Cat's expression. "It's a thought-eating box. When you look into it, it takes the thoughts out of your head and puts them into the box. And soon, it's going to suck away every single thought in your brain until there's nothing left but a docile, obedient slavegirl."

Cat burst out, "What did you say?" Because she couldn't believe it, not at first. It just sounded so absurd that the words exploded from her lips before she could even think about it. But the glittering golden dust did seem to have covered more of the bottom of the box in just the few moments she was looking at it...a sudden chill crept up Cat's spine. Something was very wrong here. Zoe had been waiting for her, waiting to trick her into looking into the box so that it would...would...it would do something, Cat knew. Zoe had just said it, she could almost remember what it was, but before she could recall, the words were already gone.

"Wh-what did you say?" Cat repeated, not in shock this time, but simply out of confusion. She'd said something about the box, hadn't she? Cat thought she remembered thinking that she needed to stop looking inside the box, but the second she thought about it, the thought slipped away from her and she couldn't remember what it was she was supposed to stop doing. So she just looked into the box, hoping that the memory would come back to her.

"Nothing important," Zoe said. "Just keep looking. So what brought you all the way out into the woods today?"

"Um..." Cat stared at the box for a long moment. The glimmering, sparkling dust was really very pretty. "I was biking, just exercising." She suddenly wondered how long she'd been sitting here. "I should really get back to my...um, my..." She suddenly couldn't remember how she'd gotten out here. She hadn't walked, she knew that. She'd used the thing, the thing you rode... "It's the thing with the pedals," she said absently as she racked her brain for the name. She knew what it was, she was sure, she'd seen it dozens of times...but as she thought about it, she couldn't actually recall ever seeing one before. Every time she thought she remembered a...a thing, with the things...the memory vanished.

"A rose?" Zoe asked with a giggle. Cat giggled too, picturing herself riding a rose through the woods, but then the mental image was gone too, leaving her entirely unsure of how she'd gotten here at all. There was just a long blank stretch in her day, and the more Cat probed at it the blanker it got.

"I, um..." Cat started to respond, before realizing she wasn't entirely sure what she was going to say or even what she was responding to. Zoe had said something, but even as Cat reached back for the memory, it was already gone. Even remembering what she was trying to remember suddenly felt like an effort, and as that faded away too, Cat suddenly felt like she was trapped inside an hourglass. She couldn't find any firm footing, the ground was just trickling away underneath her and she couldn't remember, she couldn't think...

Suddenly she realized. It was the box! Every time she thought of something, the box was just sucking the thought away. She wondered how many times she'd come to that realization, but then that worry vanished, leaving just the realization behind. She needed to stay calm, to just sit there and try not to think of anything until she could find a plan to...to...every plan she came up with just melted away to nothing before it could even begin to form, leaving Cat to stare helplessly at the box. She needed to stop thinking, she knew that, because... because... because she did. She had to remember not to think. She had to remember not to think. She had to remember... remember... it was no good. The thought was already gone. Cat grimaced. And she usually had such a good memory, too!

Zoe scooted forward a bit, getting right up close to Cat so that the box lid covered her face right up to her eyes. "So, Cat...that is your name, right?"

Cat nodded, but even as she nodded, she wasn't really sure anymore if it was. It sounded right, didn't it? Cat. Funny name for a girl, Cat. The more she repeated it in her head, the more it just sounded like a nonsense syllable. Cat cat cat cat cat. Cat cat cat...she blinked. What a silly word to get stuck in your head, she thought. Oh, well. Gone now.

Zoe reached around the box, putting her hands squarely on...on Her tits. "So where did you come from before you came out to the forest?" she asked, but She didn't even register the question at first. She was too shocked by Zoe's sudden familiarity. She couldn't just grope Her like that! It was wrong! There were rules, social codes, and...and She felt them all just soften and fade out of her mind even as she tried to remember them. She tried to remember that she didn't like strangers touching her...gone. She tried to remember that Zoe was a girl, and She wasn't into girls...gone. She tried to remember what her parents, her teachers, her pastor had told her...and suddenly realized she couldn't even bring those people to mind. Their faces just seemed to become blank, generic, and then...nothing. Even the thoughts that she wasn't trying to think of seemed to be fading away, stolen silently while she was distracted by trying to remember what she was forgetting, and leaving nothing at all behind.

Nothing except Zoe's fingers. That pleasure, that sensation was continuous, rushing in with every tiny, stroking touch to fill all the blank spots in Her mind. And even as She thought about how odd it was that she had so many blank spots in her mind, she found herself forgetting that she remembered them and then that just became another blank spot to be filled by pleasure. Zoe's hands felt good on her titties. She forgot that too, but a pinch to her nipples reminded her.

"So where did you come from before you came out to the forest?" Zoe asked, and She forgot even before she remembered that Zoe had asked it before.

"I live in...um...the city, over there, with my boyfriend, um...he's a...ohhhhh...I...I work at, at...I...I don't know," She finished in slightly plaintive tones. All those memories, all those thoughts, just vanishing out of her mind even as she tried to think of them, like water trickling through a...a...she tried to think of an appropriate metaphor, then she tried to think of what a metaphor was, then she just thought about how good it felt when Zoe rubbed Her nipples with her thumbs.

Zoe kicked off her shoe and slid a bare foot between Her thighs, pressing rhythmically against Her pussy through her biking shorts. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she felt that yummy pressure against her...her...her whatever-you-called-it, She didn't care anymore. It just all felt good, Zoe's hands on her thingies, her foot on Her other thing, it felt like she'd just been here forever, letting...letting this strange girl, whoever she was, rub...rub things, they were nice, felt good, She couldn't remember...she came hard before she forgot what an orgasm was.

She couldn't remember anything anymore. The box seemed to glow, it was so full of glittering dust, and she just stared at it, feeling so good all over for some reason, but every time she thought about it, she couldn't remember, and she wondered exactly what 'remembering' was because she seemed to be trying to do it so often and failing, and then she couldn't remember remembering and then she wondered what she was thinking of and suddenly she realized that she couldn't think at all about anything, and she knew that the second she thought about thinking that the last thought she'd have would be to wonder why she couldn't think and that even as she realized it, the thought of thinking was already g...

The box closed. Cat stared straight ahead, not even noticing. Zoe took the box out of her unresisting hands, and carefully reached inside without looking. She concentrated, and a few simple concepts--walking, talking, toilet training, that sort of thing--flew into her hand. Zoe wanted a slave, not an infant. Pulling them out, she pressed them against Cat's temple, and a tiny amount of life returned to the girl's eyes. But she still had that sexy, sleepy, docile look that made Zoe eager to train her other birthday present--her even better birthday present--how to lick pussy.

"Come on," Zoe said, standing up and brushing the dirt off her skirt. "It's time to take you home." She took Cat's hand in her own, and pulled the other girl to her feet.

"Home?" Cat said, uncomprehendingly.

"Yes, home," Zoe said as they began to walk deeper into the forest. Cat didn't even notice the bicycle leaning against the tree, and wouldn't have known how to ride it if she had. "Where you and I live as lovers, and you are my happy slavegirl, serving me and obeying my every wish..."

Zoe kept talking as they walked off, the words sinking into Cat's empty mind like water into a dry sponge. Even as Cat absorbed the details of her obedient slavery, even as she let them fill the core of her being, some tiny part of her remained. An essential part of her, one even the box couldn't take away. Underneath the programming Zoe was even now instilling, some tiny element of the old Cat ignored it all, refusing to be subsumed.

Unfortunately, that part of her was wondering exactly what was in the box Zoe was carrying.

THE END

Already Gone



Lisa settled deeper into her seat while looking out the window. They were off the college campus now and moving onto the highway. Lisa and her husband Mike Lars had just dropped their youngest child, Samantha, at her new school. In just two weeks' time, they had gone from having a full house to being empty nesters. It was a bittersweet feeling but also exciting at the same time. 

Mike and Lisa met their sophomore year of college and Lisa had fallen desperately in love with him. They had been inseparable for the next two years and married the summer before their senior year. Mike was in a five-year program to receive his MBA, so Lisa found a position teaching at a small private school while Mike finished his final year. Once he graduated, they moved to Mike's hometown where Mike joined his father's small company as a production manager. 

Mike's first paycheck came not a moment too soon. Their son Joshua was born six weeks after Mike started his new job. The young couple was ecstatic with their son and formed the picture of the happy young family. Two years later they were joined by Samantha. Everything was perfect. 

Lisa stayed at home until Samantha started school. Then she returned to the classroom talking a position as a Fourth grade teacher in the same district that her children attended. Lisa loved working with children and it helped fill her days while the kids were away in their own schools. 

Her father owned a small fabrication shop when Mike graduated. The elder Lars was an incredible engineer whose shop produced high quality specialty parts for a number of industries including for space applications. Their niche was low volume, high quality at a good cost point per unit. Low volume meant the per unit cost was higher but Lars Manufacturing routinely beat out their competition on the quality even at a higher price point. 

Mike and his father formed a great team. Where John Lars was a great engineer, he was not a skilled businessman. Mike knew enough engineering to speak intelligently but he didn't inherit his father's gift and passion. However, Mike was a great business mind. Mike handled sales, negotiations, and supply chain leaving his father free to design and invent. Mike was able to reduce their prices while John kept up the quality. Together they built Lars Manufacturing into the powerhouse in their niche. 

Six years ago, tragedy struck when John Lars had a massive stoke and died at his desk. He was only 55 but was also overweight and smoked. He would loudly proclaim that eating and smoking helped him concentrate on his designs. It might have been true but it also probably cost him his life. Mike took over full control of the business and hired three young engineers to fill John's role. Two of these engineers were competent workers. The third, Tony Gillis, showed the same creative spark John had. After two years, Tony was named Director of Engineering and formed almost the same partnership Mike had with his dad. The biggest difference was John and Mike were family so shared ownership responsibilities. Now with John gone, Mike assumed total ownership. This caused longer hours and more travel than ever before. 

Lisa looked over at her husband. At just 40, Mike still looked good. He'd learned from his father's example. His dark hair was just touched with gray and he kept himself in shape. Never a runner, Mike preferred water sports such as white water rafting and SCUBA diving to keep active. Lisa was never that into getting wet but was happy to lie out on the dive boat while Mike and their two kids did their dives. Not that Lisa let herself go. Long hours at the gym doing Pilates, Zumba, and yoga kept her in great shape. Lisa's 5'5 trim figure, B-cup breasts and taunt ass turned heads wherever she went. A Fourth grade teacher, Lisa was popular with the fathers on Back to School Nights. 

Having the kids off to college at once was a surprise. Josh graduated third in his high school class and was accepted into the same engineering school his grandfather attended. The school focused on the practical and forced students to take three six-month co-ops during their five-year program. Josh would finish the five years with his MS in Nuclear Engineering if he stayed on task. Yes, where his grandfather focused on practical mechanical engineering, Josh wanted something a bit flashier. But Josh wasn't the surprise. 

That was Samantha. 

Sam graduated a full two years early and pushed her older brother out of the second place of their graduating class. Josh simply laughed and was proud of his baby sister. Sam had worked incredibly hard the last three years to graduate early and he said she deserved it. Josh did tease her a bit about missing the Valedictorian slot due to a B+ in an art class. Now Sam was starting a pre-med and molecular biology program at an Ivy League school. Lisa was happy for her daughter but saddened that she would miss seeing her daughter have the traditional high school experience. Lisa was a bit biased but was certain her daughter at 18 would be a sure winner for prom queen. They had grown apart a bit the last few years and a part of Lisa wished to have those two years to reestablish her relationship with Sam. 

Lisa turned without a word to look back out the window. Things would be so different now. The next few weeks would be rough for everyone but it had to be done. 

"Any regrets?" Mike asked. 

Lisa sighed. "A few. But I'll live with them. It's time for a new chapter in our lives." Mike laughed. 

"You make it sound like we're dying. Hell, with instant messaging and Skype it will be almost like the kids have never left." 

"That's true," Lisa agreed. 

During the next four hours of their drive, Lisa and Mike engaged casual conversations of a long married couple: neighborhood gossip, things around the house and other mundane things. Today was a Thursday and Mike had taken Friday off to do some things around the house so Lisa was loading up the honey-do list. Finally, they arrived home and Mike pulled the minivan into its slot in the garage. 

Normally the three-car garage housed the two-year-old minivan, Mike's Camry and the 2013 Corvette Mike bought himself. The Vette was a bone of contention for Lisa. Mike had simply shown up with it one night two years ago without a word to her. Mike said it was a gift for the company signing their largest contract to date on a large contractor on a NASA contract. Technically it was owned by the company so Lisa had limited room to complain. The kids had loved it immediately. 

Once the van was parked, Lisa pulled her slightly sore body out of the van. Eight hours in the car today, lugging all of Sam's stuff into her dorm, and the rough sex the night before had Lisa dying for a hot shower and bed. 

"I need to run out for milk," Mike said even as he climbed out of the van also. Lisa groaned. 

"Why didn't you stop on our way in?" Their house was ten minutes out of town and they had passed two stores after they left the highway. 

"You looked like you needed to get home and I don't mind." Lisa felt a small bubble of gratitude at Mike's consideration. He was such a good man at times. 

"I'm taking the Vette. It's a gorgeous night and a hell of a lot more fun to drive than that minivan." Lisa waved that off. Before Lisa was even in the house, Mike was in the car and pulling out of the garage. With a roar of the V8, he was gone. 

Lisa walked up to her room and undressed for her shower. She felt like she was missing something. Mike was such a great guy. In many ways, he was the perfect husband and father. But soon he would be gone and Lisa would be on her way to her new life. 

Three years ago, Mike's constant travel was getting to her. The company was doing great, the kids were great but Lisa felt alone. Intellectually, Lisa knew it wasn't Mike's fault after losing his dad, but emotionally, Lisa was feeling abandoned. 

One night when Mike was away and the kids were off with their friends, Lisa went to a restaurant with some fellow teachers. They had fun and a few bottles of wine to support that fun. On a whim they carried on to the club next door. She'd been dancing with Bob Weirner, a fellow teacher, when someone cut in. It was Tony Gillis, the engineer from Mike's company. 

Tony was a wonderful dancer and Lisa had a great time. When the other teachers left, Lisa stayed to dance some more. When the night came to end, Tony called her a cab to get her home. She gave him a warm hug and a peck on the cheek before climbing into the cab. 

A week later Mike was again off on a trip and Tony sent her a text inviting her out to another night of dancing. Lisa was thrilled and had another great night. She met several of Tony's friends and they welcomed her to their group. Lisa felt more alive than since she and Mike were first married. Lisa knew it was harmless fun and innocent but never mentioned it to Mike. It felt a bit naughty and she saw it as her own little revenge for leaving her alone so often. 

The dancing became a regular event when Mike was on travel. Josh was involved in hockey so was usually out for practices until 11pm because they didn't get ice time until 9. He would go home after school, eat dinner, and be gone before Lisa was due home from school. So he never noticed Lisa's absences. Samantha was trickier. She wasn't into sports so Lisa signed her up for a series of 'enrichment' classes at the local community college. The classes were on different nights so Lisa's nights out had no pattern. Plus she never went on weeks when Mike was home. 

Tony was a blessing and became her best friend and confidant. He would sit at dinner before their dancing and listen to her talk about how Mike left her alone. She did admit with a shy smile how now with the dancing she looked forward to his absences. Tony was her rock. 

Hesitantly at first, Tony started to confess how he felt misused by Mike also. Tony opened up how Mike ignored good engineering to squeeze more profit out of the business, how Mike sold ideas Tony developed to their customers for huge money and never shared the proceeds with Tony. Lisa was furious on behalf of her new best friend and wanted to confront Mike right away. Tony calmed her down saying that legally Mike had him bound by a contract he'd signed when he first joined the company. The company owned the intellectual property rights to anything the employees developed so nothing forced Mike to 'share the wealth'. 

Angry at her husband's abandonment of her and abuse of her friend, Lisa leaned over and hugged Tony. The hug turned into a passionate kiss. They quickly left the restaurant and went straight to Tony's townhouse. They never made it to dancing that night. 

Lisa refused to call it an affair. She was in love with her true soul mate. The sex was wild and fun. Tony was the man she was meant to be with. The thirty-six year old mother of two and schoolteacher wanted to divorce her husband and move on to a new life with her true love, her husband's twenty-nine year old employee. They still went dancing once a week but any other time Lisa got that the kids and Mike were out of the house, she was often in Tony's bed. 

Two things stopped her from going forward with her divorce though. 

The first were her kids. She'd seen enough of her students go through divorces that she didn't want them to grow up in two homes. Mike was a great father when he was home and she had enough residual feeling for him to want him to still be with his kids but she wouldn't give them up either. 

The second was a suggestion from Tony. Mike had just promoted Tony to Director of Engineering with a much larger paycheck and a great annual performance bonus. Tony wanted to wait a while so he could establish himself in the position and with the customers. Tony said that Lisa could get the company as part of the divorce and they would run it together the way it was supposed to be run. Tony claimed the engineering and production staff would support Tony over Mike who was seen as an absentee boss. 

Together the lovers developed their plan for their own future and support. They would wait for Samantha to graduate before starting to activate their plan. In the meantime, Tony would develop his support among the employees so they were ready when the time came. 

Lisa stepped dripping naked from her shower. Her muscles felt relaxed for the first time all day. She and Tony had celebrated Sam's leaving for school the night before and her lover wore her out. He slammed her so hard in all her holes that sitting in the minivan all day was hard. Sam's early graduation allowed them to move up their plan a full two years and Tony's was really excited. The hot water and lotions had done wonders and now she was ready to crawl into bed. Hopefully Mike didn't want to 'celebrate' with her tonight. 

Wrapping a large, fuzzy towel around her body, Lisa walked into the large walk-in closet she shared with Mike. She grabbed her robe and turned to walk out but then suddenly froze. She turned to look back in the closet. 

All of Mike's things were gone. 

Lisa ran over to Mike's dresser and saw the top had been cleaned off. Yanking the drawers open - they were empty too. All of Mike's personal things were missing from the bathroom too. 

Lisa ran down the stairs and saw nothing amiss in the kitchen. It was in the family room she noticed that some of the family photos were missing from the wall and Mike's movie collection was gone too. Her panic was complete when she reached Mike's home office and it was completely cleaned out. 

She sank to the floor as the enormity of the situation hit her. Mike had left her. He waited until Sam was off to school and he'd left her! The sudden fear shot through her that Mike knew about Tony and their plans. 

Lisa ran back up the stairs to grab her cell phone. She had to call Tony! 

Running into her room, Lisa spotted an envelope sitting on a DVD in the middle of her bed. With trembling hands, Lisa picked up the envelope and saw her name written in Mike's hand on front. She opened it and read: 

Lisa, 

I've loved you since we first met. You were the only one I wanted to spend my life with. It has been my greatest failing that this will never be true. 

I couldn't avoid my travel, not and keep the business. You never said you had a problem. Instead, you ran to the arms of that conniving weasel Tony. I was shocked when I found out you were fucking that snake in the grass. 

If there was ever some Eddy Haskell wanna-be, it is Tony. Tony kissed my ass in the office and then stabbed me in the back when I was gone. I found out too late after I promoted the rat what he was really like. He turned my staff against me just like he turned my wife into his personal slut. A misquote here and an insinuation there and he had the engineering staff ready quit en masse. 

I was an idiot and knew nothing about your affair until it had already been going for a year. When I read my investigator's report I knew it was too late to save our marriage. There was no road back from this betrayal. The only thing I agreed with you was waiting for Sam to graduate. 

Don't worry about telling the kids. They already know. In fact, Sam it the one that told me. Our 14 year-old daughter had to tell her father that her mother was a cheating slut! Remember the sudden dive trip where I took Sam to the Keys? She had come home and heard a rather graphic conversation you were having with your fuck buddy. She collapsed to the floor and you completely missed her when you left to meet that asshole. Sam called me to come home to her. It took me the whole four-day weekend to get her to hold it together. Of course, I later found out you spent almost that whole time in Tony's bed whining about me abandoning you! I've had her in counselling ever since we returned from that trip. 

You know Sam's drive to graduate early? When I decided to stay with you until she graduated, Sam decided to work to graduate early. I almost ended it right there and go for the divorce but Sam demanded that she could do it. I was so proud and heartbroken by her decision. 

We didn't tell Josh until after his graduation. He's been seeing Sam's counselor ever since. He was shocked that his mother would ever do such a thing. I had to show him the edited version my evidence to get him to believe Sam and me. I got him to realize you still loved him and his sister and stayed for them. I think that may be the only thing that saves your relationship with him. Good luck with Sam though! 

As to you and loveboy's plan to steal my company - you never realized the company was owned by a family trust. With Dad's passing, the shareholders are his descendants. That would be our two kids and me. It would never be considered part of our common property in a divorce. Only the salary I drew, my pension, and the house fall into that category. That's why I had the Trust buy my Vette! 

I can't sell off the Trust but I can - with the Board of Trustees - divest the Trust of the company! The Trustees consist of Josh, Sam and I. When the employees of Lars Manufacturing arrive in the office on Monday they will be in for a hell of a shock. I'd tell you but why spoil the surprise! 

I found the letter you planned to have delivered to me when you had me served. As the song said, "I guess you felt you had to set things right." Well, I've got some news for you and you'll soon find out it's true. And you'll have to eat your lunch all by yourself. 

But I am already gone. 

If only you had talked to me. 

For the last time: 

Love, 

Mike 

PS: The DVD contains some of your greatest hits! Be sure to watch the videos in the folder called Tony Uncovered! 

Lisa collapsed onto her bed with the thoughts of her children knowing just what their mother had been doing and planning to do to their father. 

"Oh, god," she cried out. "I've lost them all!" 

Epilogue 

When the employees of Lars Manufacturing arrived in the office they were greeted with an email announcing the sale of the company to a much larger company looking to take over their niche. Mike never appeared at the office. Instead, it was the new owners and Mike's corporate lawyer that appeared. The long-term production and support teams found their pensions were guaranteed with at least five more years of employment or a buy-out equal to any remaining time. The engineers that fell in with Tony got no such guarantee. They turned on Tony as his promises of a lucrative future turned to ash. 

Tony tried to call Lisa to find out what happened but found his calls going straight to voice mail. He knew Mike was home all weekend so he'd never expected a chance to talk with Lisa. Now she was avoiding his calls. Tony finally decided to drive over in a fit of desperation to try to salvage his plans. 

He pulled into Lisa's driveway and looked for any sign of Mike. A glance in the garage told him the Corvette was gone. That meant Mike was out too. Ringing the doorbell brought no answer so he just walked in. 

"Lisa?" he called out. There was no answer. He called out several times as he searched the house. 

He finally found Lisa sitting on her bed watching a video on the flatsceen TV mounted on the wall. 

"Lisa?" he asked. 

Seemingly ignoring him, Lisa reached out a hand with the remote and pressed play. The TV sprang to life and Tony was shocked to hear his own voice coming from the screen. 

"Well, the bitch is hot," the on-screen Tony was saying. Tony recognized it was his own entertainment room and several of his friends. "I don't think I could have done it if she wasn't. A little TLC and she was on my cock in an instant. I'm going to take that asshole's company away by screwing his old lady into giving it to me! Hell, I'll wait a few years and bang his daughter too! She's hot as shit but I can't do jailbait!" That was met by rough laughter and vulgar suggestions shouted by his friends. 




Already Gone



Tony recognized when the video was recorded. It was eight months ago. The same day it was announced that the 16 year-old referred to would be allowed to graduate that year. Tony was so excited to have his plans move forward by two whole years. 

Lisa paused the video. 

"Get out," she said in a dead voice. "You've cost me everything and Mike has destroyed us both." 

"Lisa, I..." 

"Get out. If Mike hadn't taken his .40 Sig Sauer with him I'd have shot you as you came in the door and then one for me. Just go. Good luck ever finding a job in this field again. Mike will see to that." Then Lisa turned and faced the wall. Minutes or hours later, when she turned back he was gone. She never saw him again. 

- 

Lisa was served the on Tuesday. She wasn't surprised to see that Mike had been completely fair in his divorce offer; a 50/50 split with her keeping their $1.2m house and Mike taking most of their long-term investments. A lump sum balanced between the current value of his pension and her's though her school district. An educational trust covered the kids schooling and expenses. For this fairness, there was no alimony and no other contact. In return, the videos would never see the light of day. 

Mike would have full custody of Sam but she would be at college most of the year so it was almost a moot point. A personal note from Sam though said she refused to be forced to spend the next two years of school breaks with "my mom and her fuck buddy." Reading such words in her sweet daughter's handwriting was even worse than those damned videos. 

What had she done? 

***** 

A/N: This story is the result of listening to the Eagles' Already Gone during a long car ride. While I've written on other sites, this is my first touch on the adult field. I hope you enjoyed it.



Already Gone



Hey folks, as those of you who read my blog already know, I was almost finished with the story I was going to put out this week, but last week's news about Glenn Frey from the eagles hit me pretty hard. I put that story away to write this one instead. A lot of you guys out there know what it's like trying to convince your wife, especially when she likes a different kind of music how great the music you grew up with is. So just this past summer, I took my girls to see the history of the Eagles concert at the Joe Louis Arena. All three of them came out of that show loving the eagles as much as I do.

I did one Eagles song, (Lyin' Eyes) a couple of years ago and had plans to do more. So this is the first of at least a couple I'll be doing this year. I only had three days to get this out, so forgive me if it's not perfect. Everyone who wants to complain about my grammar and comma usage can email me for a refund. Think about the Eagles while you read this or better off just listen to the song. They really don't make them like this anymore. SS06

* * * * * * 

I woke up to a sinking feeling in my stomach. There was also a hand on my ass and another trying to push its way between my legs. I had a really bad headache that I knew hadn't come from the liquor we'd drank the night before. 

"Ceej, Honey, I'm not much of a morning person," I mumbled. 

"Oh! ... Sorry," he mumbled. "But what about all of those stories you told me about you and Mark fucking all night and then half of the next day?" 

"I was twenty then," I grumbled. "When you're twenty years old and madly in love you can live on sex."

"Oh ..." he said sadly. 

He looked like a hurt puppy and I wondered again if I wasn't making a mistake. On paper it seemed like everything would be perfect for me. I was trading in a forty year old man who worked all day long and then came home and worked on his car, for a thirty year old man who worshipped the ground I walked on. 

Mark was dedicated to his fucking job and to stacking dollars for what he thought was going to be our future. CJ was dedicated to me. Mark, while not controlling or anywhere near abusive, seemed to always argue with me. If I put my foot down and stood firm, drawing a line in the sand, he just looked at me with a peculiar little smile on his face and walked away. 

Things were not supposed to work that way. When my mother put her foot down, my father toed the line the way he was supposed to. Eventually he realized that as has been said too many times to recount, "Happy wife, happy life."

But not Mr. Mark Clayton. Mr. Mark Clayton looked at me with a look that seemed to say, "Bitch, you're crazy!" 

If I brought out the big guns and withheld sex, he shrugged his shoulders and worked on his car more. I hated that fucking Mustang with a passion. And it was the weirdest thing ... Not getting any sex was supposed to render him a gibbering idiot. That was what my mom told me. But a couple of days after I started holding out in him, he developed this weird habit of looking at his watch. 

It's a really good thing that women are smarter than men, or I wouldn't have figured it out. I noticed a calendar in our kitchen with a big red circle around the very next weekend. There were also several days leading up to it, including that day crossed off. It made no sense until I went into his sock drawer and found a brochure for a high end brothel in Las Fucking Vegas. 

Right on the cover of the brochure was a picture of several different women who all looked like they'd be eager to suck my husband's Dick for free and would kill me for the chance to do it for money. They were all pretty, well built, very young women too. I almost went into shock. 

I think the thing that pissed me off the most was that he'd already crossed that day off and it wasn't even lunch time yet. I wasn't stupid. And there was no way I was going to let him go off and screw a bunch of professional whores. I knew what would come after that. He'd try to put my ass out to pasture in less time than it takes his Mustang to reach thirty miles an hour and his zero to sixty time was less than five seconds. 

So that night, knowing where my fucking bread was buttered, I offered to have sex with him. I was pissed beyond belief. And I ended up with my feelings hurt. 

"Nah," he said. He said it so quickly that it was like an afterthought. Like something that was so minor in importance that it didn't even rate consideration.

I was sure that steam was coming out of my ears as the tables turned. 

"Oh come on Mark, it's been a week!" I heard myself whining. 

"I'm just not in the mood," he said. 

"I could suck your dick," I smiled trying to make myself seem sexy. It was a struggle. Especially when my fondest dream would have been to bite it off and spit it into the fireplace. "Please baby let me suck your dick," I begged. 

"I don't know," he said as if considering it. "You're not very good at it. It just seems like you're just trying to get it over with. Maybe week after next ..." 

A shock went through me. And that was the way things always went with us. I tried all of the shit I learned on TV, in magazines and from my mother, to come out on top, but Mark always seemed to get the upper hand. 

CJ, on the other hand, worshipped me. I was his Goddess. All I had to do was say jump and he was in the air. Why hadn't I left Mark for CJ before now?

Two reasons. The first is that deep down inside I love Mark. I hate his work ethic. I hate the shit out of his sense of RE-sponsi-fucking-bility and I loathe the fact that he simply won't take any shit off of anybody.

The second reason is even more practical. CJ, for all of his intense worship and suckery ... Lord I love having him kiss my ass ... Makes minimum wage or something like that working in a bar. He's fun to be around, and he does everything I tell him to, but there is no way he can support me. 

Mark, the asshole I married, has a salary in the low six figures. Maybe that's why he's such ... Okay; it wasn't always this way between us. When we first got together, we were very much in love. But twenty years and about a million arguments have both of us raising our defenses against the other. 

As I tried to remember what it was exactly that changed our everlasting love into never ending ennui and then transformed that into soul searing hatred, CJ intruded on my thoughts. 

He was rubbing my legs ever so gently hoping to get me into the mood without getting me pissed off at him. That gentle leg rubbing thing always turned me on soooo fucking much when Mark did it. CJ on the other hand was just annoying me. 

"CJ, move over here and suck my titty," I told him. 

"Seriously?" he gushed. I nodded at him. And he quickly scurried towards me. 

I hated to tell him that his rubbing my legs annoyed me because I could feel it and it took me away from my thoughts. On the other hand my big old titties were as fake as my blond hair. After the surgery, I noticed that I had lost most of the feeling in my nipples. Mark could always make me feel sensations there but no one else seemed to be able to. 

That was another thing I hated about that bastard. He was really good in bed. And his dick was definitely bigger than CJ's. Mark could always leave me trembling like a puddle of goop on the floor. It was hard for me to believe that he had never cheated on me. Even harder to believe that he really loved me and still does to this day. This is going to be really hard on him. But that's a good thing because it means that I can always come back to him if need be. 

In fact there'd be no need for me to leave Mark at all if he didn't have to win every fucking argument. If he would just let me control things the way it was supposed to be, we'd be a lot fucking happier. In fact if I was in control, I'd be a much happier wife and I'd make him the happiest bastard on the planet. But he's pissed me off one time too many. 

It had actually been CJ who made me realize that I really was the one in control. He told me that in a divorce, the woman always gets everything and the husband ends up living in his mom's basement, eating tuna straight out of the can. CJ himself was living with a woman who wanted to marry him, but she wasn't really what he was looking for. They weren't married, so walking away from her would be no problem. 

"So ... Sluuuuurrrp ... Don't ... Sluurp slurp ... Forget. Today's the day you call him," said CJ between slurps on my breast. 

I remembered then. The plan. We'd been planning it for weeks. We had waited for the perfect time. And this week was perfect. It was perfect because Mark was out of town. It was perfect because both CJ and I were cowards. Neither of us had the balls to tell my husband face to face that I was leaving him and pursuing a divorce. 

I almost threw up just thinking about it. I mean, I do have a small sense of wrong and right. And it just seemed heinous for me to call the man when he was out of town on business, busting his ass to pay for the house I just had to have and my car and all of my clothes and jewelry and even the food I ate. 

Mark deserved more. He deserved for me to sit down with him and talk about our relationship and how we were both feeling. If we agreed that there was no way to save our marriage, then we should have discussed all of the options open to us. Then and only then, should we discuss a divorce. And after the divorce, we would both be free to move on to other relationships. 

That was the honorable way to do it. But we were doing it this way. In over twenty years together, Mark had never hit me. He barely even raised his voice to me. When we couldn't agree on something, he would try to compromise. That was one of my biggest problems with him. He was too easy going. He was always ready to settle for less than everything. But if we couldn't compromise, he just got that funny little smirk on his face and walked away. 

Over the years, I came to know exactly how he thought. I knew exactly what that look meant. It meant, "Fuck you, bitch. If you won't settle for half, you get nothing. It meant who needs to fuck your forty year old pussy when I can go to Vegas and ..."

So over the years, I got angrier and angrier. And I was at a time in my life when I just needed it all. So in the divorce, I'd get all of it. I'd get my house, all of my stuff and a big chunk of his money. And then when it was time for him to retire, I'd get half of his pension too. 

I had spoken to a lawyer. I had him drawing up the divorce papers. I'd spoken to my mother. And I'd spoken to a lot of my friends. All of them were sure that it would work, but they were also all in agreement that I shouldn't do it. 

What galled me was when my mother, who'd always hated Mark, told me that I was out of my fucking mind to even think about divorcing him. But their opinions only served to piss me off and make me even more determined. 

My lawyer, who was only interested in making money, was the one who came up with the reason for the divorce. I was going to claim mental cruelty and abandonment. The basis for our divorce was that Mark, by working all the damned time had abandoned me emotionally. 

It was a lie and a stupid one, but it would get me the freedom and the control over my life that I wanted. Deep down, I hated blindsiding him like this. But it's a tough world and he's a big boy. He'll get over it in time. 

Besides, if I took my time and talked to him about things, he'd probably try to compromise. Or he'd talk me out of it. And sometimes you just have to hit a motherfucker over the head with a two by four to get his attention. I felt like I was at one of those, "Do unto others BEFORE they do unto you," points in my life. 

I took a deep breath and picked up my phone. CJ redoubled his attention to my unfeeling left nipple as if to stir me onwards. 

From outside of the house I heard the sounds of trucks. It was probably one of our neighbors having furniture delivered. I dialed a number that over the years I had learned far too well. 

It rang once and then was connected in the middle of the second ring. It had to be a coincidence. It seemed almost as if he'd expected me to call him. 

"Mark," I said tentatively. 

"Who else would be answering my phone?" he asked. His flip manner made me hate what I was doing just a little bit less. 

"Why the hell are you calling ME?" he asked. He sounded as if for me to call him was something strange or unexpected. As I thought about it, I realized that he was right. I hadn't called him unless it was to get something for myself in years. The man busted his ass to make a life for us and I had pretty much ignored him for a very long time. Maybe what I wanted would be good for both of us. Maybe I could let him keep a little bit more of the money. 

I mean, I didn't need to hurt him; I just needed to be free. 

"I AM your wife," I said. 

* * * * * *

Mark

I was so close. I was driving my way to the Promised Land and in the home stretch. There was sweat streaming down my forehead and dripping onto the pale skinned creature beneath me. 

She made a little keening sound and yanked my head back down to hers. She planted my lips firmly onto hers and somehow managed to squeeze my dick even tighter in the velvet lined vice of her vagina. 

"Ohhhhhhh fuck," I gasped. She giggled and kissed me again. 

"Shannon ... Baby, I can't hold it ... I've gotta ..." I gasped. 

"You've gotta wait a little bit longer, Honey," she hissed. "It'll be so much better ... IF YOU waaaaiiit! Ooooooh ... Oh Jeezus ... Do me baby." Each syllable was punctuated with her slamming her crotch against me. I was trying to hold back with all of my might. Shannon had the ability to make me cum so hard I was cross eyed after it. 

It was hard to believe that I had known her for only three months. "It's too tight, when you squeeze it like that. I'm gonna cum. Besides you said it was mine and I want it now." 

"I also told you that you could have me any way you wanted me, anytime you wanted me, now fuck me!" she cooed. "But don't cum!" 

The jangling sound of my phone caused me to lose all control. Sperm shot out of me so hard that I nearly lost consciousness. I looked down to see Shannon's reaction and she was in the midst of spasms. Her eyes had rolled back in her head and her legs were splayed out and shaking violently. 

"Hoooo baby, that was good," she mumbled. "I swear to God that was it."

"What the hell are you trying to do to me, Shannon?" I asked as my phone continued to ring. 

"I'm trying to make you happy, Mark," she said mischievously. 

"I've been happy since I met you," I said. 

"You'll be even happier, when we're done," she smirked. "Answer your phone. It might be her." 

It wasn't. It was the movers. I had forgotten that they were supposed to call me when they arrived. The tiny white hand that was gripping my dick guided it between her cherry red lips. The lips and the head they were attached to were soon hidden behind a curtain of red curls. 

A tingling came from my loins at about the same time as I heard the slurping sounds. 

Suddenly my phone rang again. I could see from the number on the screen that it was her. I nodded at Shannon who was looking at me expectantly. The look that came across those huge green eyes was part mirth and part evil grin. 

As Shannon flipped over and slid up next to me, I marveled again at the work of art her body was. Her legs are sculptured like the dancer she used to be. And her heart shaped ass could make a Kardashian jealous. Her tiny waist makes her ass seem larger than it is, but then that ass is so round that it seems to belong on a bigger woman. God was truly in his glory when he made that ass. 

Shannon always says that God was so proud of the work he did on her ass that he was too busy patting himself on the back to give her any tits. 

I was in love again. Yes ... again. It was only the second time for me, but this one just felt right. This love was like the Phoenix. It rose from the ashes of the one before it. 

I guess I should start at the beginning. Three months ago, I was like a lot of poor schlubs out there. I was in love with a woman who hated me. I guess we were both phoning it in. But I loved her. I really did. And I stupidly thought that she loved me too. 

Sure I knew there were problems in my marriage. We'd been arguing a lot back then. But I thought that all married couples went through that. My eyes were opened when my secretary came into my office and told me I had a visitor. 

When Shannon walked into my office and sat down, I was confused. 

"So ... What company do you represent?" I asked. 

"I'm from the you and me getting back at the assholes corporation," she spat. "This is gonna be harder than I thought." 

She shook her head as she looked at me. "Too bad too," she said. 

"I don't understand," I said. 

"I know you don't, Mark and from the look of things, this is gonna hit you really hard," she said. She shrugged her tiny shoulders and moved on. "Your wife is cheating on you." 

I thought that I had misheard her, but when I looked at her she was so sure. She'd said it as casually and as factually as if she'd just told me the sky was blue. Somehow I knew she was telling the truth.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. Sweat broke out on my forehead and my heart started pounding in my chest. My vision grew dim along the edges and my eyes began to water. I felt as if any second I was going to vomit. Images of a faceless man on top of Anne, pounding away at her while she screamed out her pleasure, dominated my psyche. 

Then the dam broke and the water started. I put my head down on my desk because, as a man I didn't want that tiny little redhead to see me crying like some kind of baby. 

Before I knew what was happening, the fragrance of fresh cherries engulfed me. I felt warm hands lifting my head from the desk and I was cradled in a warm place. 

"I'm so sorry," she cooed. "I never expected this. I guess I expected that you would react the way that I did when I found out. I expected for you to get pissed and go over there and kick my boyfriend's ass." 

She was perched on my desk with my head in her lap. She stroked my head, trying to calm me down as she spoke.

"You love her don't you?" she asked shaking her head. "Despite the fact that she cheats on you and never has a single good thing to say about you. You LOVE her. When they're in bed all she ever talks about is the way the two of you argue, and how you should be doing what she wants. I just don't get it. You work your ass off trying to support her and she doesn't appreciate you or the things you do for her. Why the hell do you care so God Damned much about her?" 

She continued stroking my head and talking out loud. The sound of her voice was comforting and I began to wonder if she was trying to calm me down or just talking to herself. 

"It's the blond hair and the big boobs isn't it?" she asked. "CJ is crazy about blond women with big tits, too. I guess I expected more from you."

I looked up at her suddenly. I don't know why I got so angry at HER. 

"I loved her before she bleached her hair," I spat. "And I was the one who bought her those boobs." Her only response was a burst of laughter so musical that it stopped me in my tracks. 

"What's so funny?" I asked. "I was telling the truth." 

"I know you were, Honey," she said. "But my dumb-assed ex has no idea that his dream woman is mostly plastic. It's probably going to take a lot of your money to keep her looking like that." 

I shook my head. It all seemed like a dream, but my anger was rising. Shannon told me all of it. She told me how they met. And what Anne's ultimate plan was. They'd been discussing options and thought they had figured out the best way to get rid of me, or at least to get me out of Anne's life, while keeping most of my money. 




Already Gone



Shannon herself was in a similar although less legal position. She'd been supporting CJ since they'd met while he'd had a series of flings with women who came into the bar he worked part time in. He was apparently looking for his perfect BBB or big boobed blond and had found Anne and thought his dreams were complete. 

Besides the physical aspects that I had paid for, Anne seemed to arouse his mother complex as well. 

Shannon had been paying a private eye to get as much info on CJ as she could. I spoke to her agent a woman named Sarah Pryce several times and then took over paying for her services. It was actually a no-brainer. Having the information was of no benefit to Shannon. Sarah, another really pretty redhead had explained it to Shannon several times. 

Since Shannon and CJ weren't married, the information meant nothing to her. CJ could legally walk away from Shannon on a whim with no repercussions. I on the other hand could use Sarah's information and the videos to give me a stronger position in the divorce and mitigate the amount of money I would have to give Anne and her boy toy. 

Over the weeks of watching them and planning ourselves, Shannon and I grew closer. One night it all came to a head. 

"Shannon, you're way too good for him," I told her. "Why don't you just walk away?" 

"Fuck him," she said. "But I can't walk away without settling up. I don't ever let anyone get over on me." 

"But isn't it enough that you found out about what he's doing, so he can't really hurt you? You aren't tied to him, so you're not stuck like I am." I asked. "You're young and you're so beautiful. You have time to find someone who will love you the way you deserve."

Her green eyes lit up, even in the confines of my Mustang's dark interior. 

"So you finally noticed, Huh?" she asked. 

"Noticed what?" I asked.

"Me!" she smirked. 

"I noticed you the first moment you stepped into my office," I gushed. 

"Bullshit!" she laughed. "You were so in love with Anne that you didn't even notice that I was a girl, let alone that I might have been interested in you." Her laughter as usual had enchanted me. It was one of the things I loved about her the most. 

"Why do you think, I'm still here?" she gushed. "I got over CJ and any need for revenge weeks ago. Helping you get your revenge means much more to me than getting back at that asshole. I just hate the thought of you having to support those two cheaters for the rest of their God Damned lives. There has to be a way for us to get out of this, Honey." 

She walked right over to me, wrapped her arms around me and kissed me for the first time. I was shocked. But I enjoyed it too much to even consider not returning the kiss. 

At forty, and married for twenty years, I thought that I knew how to kiss. But the only thing I knew was the way that Anne kissed. Kissing Shannon was a completely different animal. 

The taste was different. The feeling was different. The whole experience was different. I couldn't get enough. I just kept kissing her and kissing her. After a while we forgot that we were supposed to be listening to a recording of our cheating partners so we could figure out how to come out on top. 

A voice from behind us finally separated us, but Shannon refused to let go of my hand. 

"I thought ... Well ... I hoped that would happen," smiled Sarah. "The two of you are so nice and you're far more suited to each other than you are to the people you're in relationships with. Now that the two of you are together, we can just let the cheaters go. People like that will end up getting what they deserve in the end."

"But what about his divorce ... And our revenge?" asked Shannon. Sarah surprised us then, when she explained a few things about the law. 

"The question is do the two of you want to be together enough to do it?" asked Sarah. "Take some time to think about it. It's a big step. I'll send you a bill," she smiled.

The next few weeks told the story. Shannon and I worked on our acting chops. We each told our respective spouses how busy we were at work. And surprisingly they both believed us. Neither of them had any idea that Shannon and I knew each other let alone that we were in a budding relationship of our own. 

It gave us the time to spend together and our mutual attraction blossomed into full blown love. One day I called Shannon at work and told her that I was ready to jump. "I want ... I guess I need to spend more time with you," I told her. 

"We're together almost every night, silly," she giggled over the phone.

"It's not enough," I said. 

"But we haven't even slept together yet," she whispered. That told me that she was working and didn't want anyone there to hear her.

"I'm sure that sex with you will be awesome," I told her. 

"You have no idea," she cooed. "But you do know that I don't have huge jugs like your wife, right?" 

"Who cares," I said. "What makes sex great is when you love the person you're with and you really want to please them." 

That was when she said it. She was almost in tears and her voice broke. It was as if she'd just been waiting to hear me say it. 

"I love you too Mark. And I swear I will forever. You can have any part of me, any way you want it, any time you want it. I'm yours," she gushed. I was floored. No one, not even Anne when we were young had so eloquently and vehemently expressed their love for me. 

"And no, I've never said anything like that to anyone before you," she said solemnly. "Not even that asshole CJ." 

"I wasn't worried about that," I said. "I was just wondering how quickly we can do it. We're going with Sarah's plan." 

The phone call this morning was just what we'd been waiting for. The funny thing about it was that I really and truly believe that fate played a hand in getting us together. Over the weeks as we made our plans, we were very careful not to be seen together. But people that we both knew kept coming to each of us and telling us that our significant others were cheating on us. We had to work very hard to pretend that we didn't know. 

It was a comedy of errors that bordered on a Shakespearean level. It began to seem like only CJ and Anne had no idea that we knew. And that was because the two cheaters were so sure that they were much smarter than everyone else. 

Finally my business trip came up ... Okay it was a pretend business trip, but it worked. And conveniently, Shannon's mother got sick at the same time. Both of us being supposedly out of town lent courage to the cheaters and thus that fateful phone call. Things didn't go as smoothly as we'd hoped. Both Shannon and I had predicted that the phone call would have come on Friday night. That was why I had arranged for the truck to arrive on Sunday morning. I wanted to give the lovebirds a couple of days to enjoy each other before it all blew up. 

But Shannon and I savored the moment of victory as I answered the phone. "Mark?" asked the voice of the woman I'd been married to for more than twenty years.

"Who else would answer my phone?" I asked gleefully. Shannon had moved up and wrapped her arms around me, giving me a strength I never thought I had. "Why the hell are YOU calling ME?" I asked. 

"I am your wife," she said. "Mark, Honey, I have to tell you something and you're probably not going to like it. I guess the easiest way to do this is to tell you that in the long run this will be good for both of us. It may not seem like it now but ..." I just started laughing. 

* * * * * *

Anne

He was laughing. I couldn't believe he was laughing at me. CJ had gone downstairs to find out what was going on with those God Damned trucks. It almost seemed like they were in my front yard. I wished that CJ was there with me then. 

"Why the fuck are you laughing?" I asked. "I'm being serious here!" 

"Well, I heard some people talkin' just the other day. And they said you were gonna put me on a shelf," he said in that same laughing voice. He really knew how to piss me off. Well he'd be laughing out of the other side of his ass in minute. And that was what all of this was about. This time I had the upper hand. 

"But let me tell you I got some news for you," he continued. "And you'll soon find out it's true. Then you'll have to eat your lunch all by yourself." 

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked. 

"I don't think this is your idea at all," he laughed. "I think it's CJ's plan." 

Shit, he knew about CJ and me. He'd said he heard some people talking about it. Probably my nosey assed neighbors. I had to try to save things. No, fuck that, I had to go through with it. 

"Mark, I'm leaving you," I said. "I want a divorce." I put as much strength in my voice as I could muster. But all he did was laughed even more. 

"The letter that you wrote me made me stop and wonder why. But I guess you felt like you had to set things right," he laughed. 

His words chilled me to the bone. Was the bastard psychic? No one knew about that God damned letter. Even CJ had no idea that I'd written Mark a letter. The letter was supposed to go along with the divorce papers and it explained my feelings on our marriage and where we went wrong. It also explained in detail exactly what Mark had to do to win me back from CJ.

"Mark we need to talk about this," I mumbled. "I think when you get home we should ..."

"Just remember this, my girl, when you look up in the sky," he said. "You can see the stars and still not see the light (that's right)."

"Mark are you singing?" I asked. I had called the bastard to tell him that we were done and he was singing. He was pretending that he was glad I was leaving him to throw me off my game. "Mark if we ... If you don't make some changes, we WILL get this divorce," I said. 

"Too late for that, Honey, I ...ooooof ... Ow that hurt," he said. And in the background I heard a woman's voice mumbling something about HER being the only woman he'd better be calling HONEY."

"Mark, it's never too late," I said. "Why is it too late, Mark?" 

"Cause I'm already gone," he sang. "And I'm feelin' strong. 

I will sing this vict'ry song, woo-oo-oo, my my, woo-oo-oo!"

"What the fuck do you mean, you're already gone?" I screamed into the phone. Suddenly the feeling I'd been having all morning intensified. I had a feeling of dread that must have been the way that Wile E. Coyote feels just before the rock that he dropped on the road runner starts looming over his own head. 

I listened into the phone to hear Mark's answer but all I heard was a dial tone. I slammed the phone down on the bed beside me just as CJ ran back into the room. 

The look of fear on his face was intense. "You need to get dressed and come downstairs," he said. 

I threw on a robe and belted it to prevent my boobs from spilling out. There was a huge black woman with a clipboard standing in my fucking living room like she owned it. 

"Who the Fuck are you?" I asked. "Get out of my house!" 

She looked at me as if she was sizing me up and then turned her back on me. "I'm in a charitable mood," she said. "I know that your situation brings a lot of anger and resentment with it ... But the two things I will not tolerate are rudeness and any delay in my schedule. I have to have this house emptied by the end of the day. And I intend to do that. Out of that same Charity, I will allow you a few moments to gather your personal belongings and ..." 

"I'm not going anywhere," I said. "My husband and I own this house. It's almost paid for. CJ call the police." 

"Yes," she said. "CJ call the police. That will speed things up. This house isn't almost paid for. It's totally paid for. This is probably going to be the most embarrassing moment of the rest of your life, lady." I glared at her and CJ pulled out his phone and dialed 911.

A few moments that seemed like forever passed and gave me the chance to think. I wondered then about what Mark had said. Woo-oo-oo my my Woo-oo-oo. What kind of God damned victory song was that? What kind of victory was he claiming? And then, Hank Key, the police chief, a personal friend of Mark's and mine arrived. 

The woman stepped past me and handed Hank a stack of papers. He looked over them and nodded his head several times. Then he came over to me. He looked past me at CJ. 

"Is that him?" he asked. 

"Who?" I asked him back. 

"Don't get testy," he said. "I was just wonderin' if that was the guy you was cheatin'on Mark with? It's pretty Damned cheeky of you to have him right here in Mark's house. Shit, I forgot. Mark sold the house ..."

My head exploded. Before I could process what he'd just said a woman who was even bigger than the black woman elbowed her way through the moving crew. 

"Is that him?" she asked. She walked a slow circle around CJ and then smiled at me. "They said you was stupid, but I had to see it myself." 

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked. 

"Half of the women in town are wondering why you traded your husband in for a guy with a smaller dick and no income to speak of," she smirked. "Maybe there is some truth to the theory that when you put silicone in your tits, it rots your brain." 

"Watch this Tina," said the police chief. He ambled over to CJ.

"Hey, Boy, Do ya know what a woman says to a guy with a really big dick?" he asked. 

"No, I don't," said CJ. 

"I do," said the chief. He and his fat, female deputy erupted in laughter. 

"Can we get on with this?" asked the black woman. 

"Right," said the Chief. "Anne, pack your shit and Git. Mark sold the house." 

"But he can't," I screamed. "This is my house. I picked it." 

"But he paid for it, Anne," said the chief. "He bought it with his own money. His name is the only one on the deed. He can do whatever he wants with it."

"Bullshit, the woman always gets the house in a divorce," I yelled. 

"Not always," said the chief. "Besides you guys aren't getting a divorce."

"Yes we are," I said. "I'm going to file tomorrow." 

"Well you should have filed last week because that was when he sold the house," snickered the chief.

"Isn't that illegal?" I asked.

"Nope," said the chief. "It's kind of sneaky and underhanded, kind of like fucking some scumbag while your husband is at work making the money to buy you all of this shit, but it's definitely legal."

"Shit," I said. "CJ get my lawyer on the phone, I have to call the bank and our investment firm." 

"Do it outside," said the black woman. She gestured and her moving crew began taking the furniture out of the house.

"Where are they taking my furniture?" I asked. 

"Your husband donated the furniture to the local charity auction house, "she said. "You can always buy it back." 

"I picked out every piece of that furniture and arranged it and ..." I began. 

"Maybe ya should have paid for some of it," snickered Tina. "Oh yeah, I forgot. Bleach prevents ya from working don't it?" 

I ignored her and concentrated on the phone call to the bank. "Carly this is Anne Clayton ... Yes Mark's wife. Carly my lawyer is going to call you very soon to put a freeze on all of our accounts so I need to make a withdrawal before that ..." she started talking to me in her extremely cheerful phone voice. 

"Carly ... Business first," I said. "We can chit chat later. I'm going to need enough money to maintain the house and pay expenses for a while. Oh and when the freeze goes on, does it freeze only the current assets of the accounts or will Mark be able to route his direct deposit into another account?" 

"Only the current contents of the accounts," she said. "But I think he already moved his direct deposit last week, when he quit his job." 

"He did what?" I asked. "Oh shit, Carly I want to withdraw all of the money from our accounts. I want to put it all into a new account, okay?" 

"Are you sure you want to withdraw all of it?" she asked.

"Hell yeah," I said. "Mark will have another job faster than Tina can empty a bucket of chicken wings, but that money is all I have until the courts agree on a divorce settlement."

"I'll have to write you a cashier's check for the amount and then you have to come in and deposit it into your new account," she said. 

"Okay," I snapped just do it." 

"It's done," she said. "As soon as you get here, I'll hand you a check for three dollars and eleven cents and you can ..."

"What the fuck are you talking about, Carly," I screamed. "There's almost a half a million dollars in that account." 

"There was ..." she said. 

"I know," I hissed. "That's how much there was last week." 

"Chief that has to be illegal," I said. 

"It ain't illegal," he said. "But it is kind of bad." 

"Huh?" I said. 

"Yep," he said. "The bank has a minimum balance rule. If your account balance dips below fifty bucks you have to pay a ten dollar fee. You ain't got enough money left to even pay the fee."

CJ handed me the phone and I started speaking to my lawyer in a rapid fire mix of words and sobs.

I told him about Mark selling the house and draining all of the money out of the bank accounts. As I spoke I had logged onto our investment account and found that Mark had cashed out all of our investments. He left only a single share of stock in a company that made cheese.

"That's pretty fucking smart," said my lawyer. "He beat you to the punch. It's all very legal. Up until the divorce is filed he can do whatever he wants with all of his assets. So he took everything. He's probably going to cash everything out and put it in a lot of offshore accounts that we can't touch. He wants to bring his net worth down to the point where you won't get shit in the divorce. And quitting his job is brilliant. When he shows up in court with no money and no job, you two will just walk away, even."

"I don't think he's going to show up at all," I said. "I think he's left town. I think he left me before I could leave him. I have no idea where he is." 

"Hey," asked my lawyer "How are you going to serve the papers on him if you don't know where he is?"

"Can't I divorce him without all of that?" I asked. "What about abandonment?" 

"In this state that takes three years. Do you have enough money to hold out for that long?" he asked. 

"Remember, I just told you that he took all of our fucking money, you moron," I hissed. 

"Wow," he said. "No money means you can't pay m ... Click"

Again all I heard was the dial tone. But added to it was the sound of three fatties snickering at me under their breath. 

That was how my life went to hell. I moved in with my mother temporarily. Mark had been thorough. He had sold or given away all of our assets. He had taken all three of the cars he drove. Both of his Mustangs and the Jeep that he drove in the winter were gone. He had left my new Lexus, but I had no way to make the payments and it was soon repossessed. 

I hired several free lawyers and all of them told me how badly I had to have pissed him off to do what he did. Almost all of the lawyers, when told the facts of the situation agreed that it was brilliant and completely legal. 

There is no law in the country that says a man has to live with a woman just because they're married. There is also no law about selling a house that you hold the deed to. And Mark had a perfect right to withdraw the money in our accounts since he'd been the one who'd opened the accounts. 

He had come out on top again. I tried calling him, only to find out that his number was no longer in service. 

There was a clue. I was sure that he had somehow left me a message. I was just too stupid to figure it out. 

The days turned to weeks without a word from him. The weeks stretched into months. I lost CJ before the first month had ended. He was struggling to make the rent on the apartment he shared with his girlfriend. Then he found the letter. His girlfriend had left him for another guy on the same day that Mark had left me, what are the odds of that. 




Already Gone



I was listening to the radio one day and just burst into tears. There was a band I had vaguely heard of called the Eagles. One of their lead singers, a guy named Glenn Frey was singing a song called Already Gone. It told a story that was so similar to my life that I cried. The nonsense that Mark had been saying or singing to me the day he dumped me with his pre-emptive strike had been taken directly from that song.

My life was all about drudgery. I worked six days a week cleaning hotel rooms with my mother. A lot of our guests reminded me of the way I used to live. I had always taken the things that I had for granted. I always believed that I was entitled to more. 

But after a few days of working for a living, I began to regret the way I had treated my husband. It galled me to remember that I used to spend more on make-up than my current rent. 

I also knew that at forty three years old my prospects were limited. The one thing that was weird was that after three years of bad food and almost no exercise other than working, I had put on a few pounds. I had also stopped dying my hair. 

When I got home one day there was an invitation waiting for me. I was being invited to a local cafe the next day. The invitation was unsigned, but I knew it was from Mark. Suddenly his clue made sense. Mark could have emptied our accounts, but he'd left a weird amount of money. He'd left three dollars and eleven cents.

It was now three years one month and one week since he left me. This was it, my sentence was complete. My penance was over. Shit, I wished that I'd figured it out sooner. I could have gone on a diet and got my body back. 

Then I realized that it didn't matter, Mark had always loved me. The blond hair and big boobs had been my idea. As I tried to make myself look my best something occurred to me. I suddenly remembered the last line of the song Mark had quoted to me before he beat me to the punch and walked out on me before I could divorce him.

The line was, "So oftentimes it happens that we live our lives in chains. That we never even know we have the key."

The invitation had a message in it. It said that we'd come full circle. I was sure that meant that he was ready to have me back in his life.

It suddenly hit me that I had been a fool. I had always been the one in control. I had sat on my ass day after day, while Mark went out and worked his ass off to buy me anything and everything I asked for. 

The only times he had ever balked at any of my requests was when I tried to put something over on him. And when I tried to divorce him, when I tried to walk out on him, he had taken it personally. He as usual had given me what I wanted. He walked out first. 

The peculiar thing was that I had spent the past three years dreading the day that the inevitable would happen. I was sure that sooner or later the divorce papers would arrive. But they had never come. I was pretty sure that I now knew why. Mark still loved me. I was looking forward to seeing him again. 

I got to the bar a bit early. There was a seedy looking bar tender, who'd drank too much and had that ruddy skin condition that is a sure sign of an alcoholic. 

He came over to my table. "Damn you got fat," he said. "How many donuts did you eat over the past three years?" 

"Did you drink enough to make yourself forget how tiny your dick is?" I asked. "What are you doing here CJ?" 

"I still work here," he said. "What are you doing here?"

"I got an invitation to lunch in the little outdoor cafe across the street," I said. I came in here to get a drink to bolster my courage."

"That's bizarre," he said. "It's too big of a fucking coincidence." 

"What do you mean?" I asked. 

"I got one too," he said. "Hey did yours have a weird riddle on it?"

"I wouldn't call it a riddle," I said. "It was Mark's way of telling me that he wants me back." 

"What did it say exactly?" he asked. 

"If you must know," I told him. "It read, "We've come full circle. I'm ready to give you what you want."

"You're right," he said. "Yours is different from mine. That redhead always did have a screw loose. Mine was a question. "Why does a squirrel hide its nest?"

"I have no clue of what that means," I said. 

"I think it means that Shannon wants me back, too," he said. "A squirrel hides its nest to keep birds out of it. Get it? The English call women birds. It's Shannon's way of telling me she doesn't want any other women to have me. I think they worked together and decided to take us back after a predetermined amount of time. They wanted us to suffer and be willing to take them back on their terms."

"Fuck that," I said. My anger made me forget everything I had learned over the past three years. If Mark wanted me back he was going to have to be the one kissing some ass this time.

I left the bar with a full head of steam and headed across the street to the cafe. I sat at a small table and looked around. I actually saw CJ walk into the cafe. He sat down at a small table on the sidewalk near where a couple of college guys were playing hacky sack. As soon as CJ sat down I thought about his riddle and realized that he'd been wrong about it. I waved at him frantically but he was too distracted by the kids. 

Then he saw me. He waved at me and shook his head, but I didn't get his message. 

The boys near him lost control of the small sack. It flew towards CJ and knocked his drink over. He jumped up angrily just as the small sack fell off of the table and landed right in front of him. One of the kids came up and it looked like he was trying to skillfully kick the sack back into the air to restart the game. He swung his leg wildly and missed the sack completely. At least he missed the hacky sack. 

His foot flew full force into CJ's crotch. CJ's scream was so loud that I was sure he was heard a mile away. I ran over to him just as the waiters tried to help him. All they could do was to try to help him to his feet. Not a single one of them wanted to try to examine the site of his injury. 

I got to him just as the ambulance took him away. "Your answer was wrong," I said. He looked at me through a haze of pain. 

"Whah?" he grunted. 

"She didn't want you back," I said. "It has nothing to do with birds. A squirrel hides its nest to ... Protect its nuts!" 

"No shit!" he grumbled. He started to say something else but he was cut off by the arrival of what looked like a college girl. 

She was tall and blond, like I used to be. Her hair was a truly glorious shade of blond and it was her real hair color. Her boobs were almost as big as mine are and judging by the way they moved they were real. She was carrying a briefcase and chewing gum.

"Are you Anne Clayton?" she asked. 

"Of course, I am," I sat angrily. She handed me a stack of papers. 

"What are these?" I asked. "His list of demands?" 

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" she spat. I looked around the cafe and saw him. I suddenly understood my riddle too. Coming full circle did mean that I got what I wanted. But it didn't mean that I got Mark back. It meant that I got what I wanted at the time that Mark left me. I got a divorce. 

The problem was that it was no longer what I wanted. I had talked about the life I once had and had lost but to be truthful, I had gotten used to not having much money. The thing I wanted back most was Mark himself.

I spotted him then. He looked good. He looked even better than he had when we broke up. He looked happy. But he wasn't alone. There was a woman with him. She was a redhead. She was young, really pretty and really pregnant. 

Between them clutching each of their hands was a little girl who was the perfect melding of both of their features. She had Mark's hair color and her mother's luminous green eyes. She ... that tiny little girl, looked at me with the same peculiar little smile that Mark had. Maybe it was genetic. Or maybe she somehow knew what was going on and what it all meant, just as I did.

I knew as soon as I saw them together that it was over. There was no chance that I would ever get Mark back. Emotionally, he was out of reach. There was no point in my fighting to regain his heart. That redhead would never give up on him. She had given him her heart, her love and clearly her body. She had given him children as well. 

I looked over the divorce papers and saw Mark's revenge against me. I had schemed to take my husband's money by using the court system. I wanted the man's money without the man. 

I ended up with neither. He'd divorced me on the grounds of abandonment. That meant that he walked away with all of his money and his wonderful life intact. And I just walked away. I looked up from the papers for a final glimpse of the man I had lost, but I was too late. He was already gone. 

The End